Improvement in cotton-openers



J. E. CRANE, vdecd. JULIA V. CRANE, Administratrix.

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COTTON-OPENER. 3,541, Pafinzea Oct.24,1876.

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I i b N. PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D. C,

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J. E. CRANE, decd.

JULIA V. CRANE, Administratrix.

COTTON-OPENER.

Eaten/ ed 0ct.24,1876.

Wxmemaa. XWMW UNITED S ATES,

PATENT ()FFIOE.

JOHN E. CRANE, (JULIA v. CRANE, ADMINISTRATRIX,) 0F LowELL, MASS.

IMPROVEMENT IN COTTON-OPENERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 183,541, dated October 24, 1876; application filed March 21, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN E. CRANE, of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cotton-Openers,

of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference heing'had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specificatiomin which t Figure 1 is a plan or top view with the cover removed, and Fig. 2 a sectional elevation on the line a b of Fig. 1, showing one end of the operating cylinder or shaft, and most of the other parts.

This invention relates to machinery for opening and cleaning cotton, and has for its object to do the work in a superior manner without injury to the cotton.

This invention consists of certain new and useful improvements in hinged or pivoted and yielding bladed heaters for opening cotton as it passes the feed-rolls of a cotton-opener, the blades of said hinged heaters being arranged to strike or deliver their blows while rotating so near the feed-rolls as to act in connection with the rolls, the latter holding the cotton, and the heaters striking and stripping the cotton from the rolls as fast as they deliver it to the heaters, said bladed heaters being in all cases hinged or pivoted to the periphery of the shaft or cylinder, about as shown in the drawings, and so that each of said bladed heaters will yield or fallback when they strike or impart their blows to the cotton fed to them substantially as described, and when the cylinder of bladed heaters is rotated rapidly, and the heaters are thrown out radially by centrifugal force.

In the said drawings, A represents the shaft or cylinder, or heater connecting and carrying device, having journals B, supported in hearings on the frame 0, cased up in the usual way, and provided with a common a screen or rack beneath the cylinder, and adelivery trunk or spout, l), a common feedapron, F, and well-known feed connecting and operating mechanism, which maybe driven by a pulley on one end of the main cylinder-shaft. To the periphery of the shaft orcylinder A, or at or close to the circumferential surface of such cylinder, I hinge the several bladed heaters t u 0, each having about the same degree of yielding action, and other good qualities which render them capable of operating to advantage. Their predetermined and'peculiar construction and yielding action prevent cotton from lapping or winding around them, and leave them with reduced air-resisting surfaces. The hinged and yielding bladed beater t has side arms a by Which it is hinged to the periphery of the cylinder. This bladed beater t has a rounded operating end or blade, and a weh,c, extending inward from said round rod, sufficient to prevent the fibers of cotton lapping or winding around it, as they would be liable to do if the web was omitted. The hinged and yielding bladed beater a has a wide blade like the common bladed beater, but it has acenter arm, a and a hinging hub, 12, by which it is hinged to the periphery of the shaft or cylinder, as shown. This beater a has also a good clearance for air, the center arm being but a small ob- .struction, and it has a great capacity to yield or fall back as it strikes the fed cotton. The yielding bladed beater c has a blade like u, but, instead of a center arm, it has side arms a by which it is hinged to the periphery of the cylinder, as shown.

By constructing the aforesaid heaters as shown, and by hinging them to the periphery of the shaft or cylinder,as at b, their length from their pivotings to their operating blades will'he greatly in excess of heaters hinged to rods, arms, flanges, or supports so far from the periphery of the cylinder as to allow such heaters to revolve each on its axis or pivoting blade when thrown out by centrifugal force and therefore this machine, or the cottonopeners, having my said improved bladed heaters constructed and applied as described, will he very potent and effectual for opening cotton, however much it may be matted or in hard bunches.

In all cases the operating blades of my In combination with the feed-roll of a cot ton-opener, the yielding beaters t u '0, constructed and applied as described, with oper sting-blades, a rod with arm or arms a a a hinged to the periphery of the shaft or cylinder A, and operating substantially as and for the purpose described.

Witnesses: rut

JOHN E. CRANE.

WM. s. BROWN, NATHAN BROWN. 

